Can I Connect an Existing Stripe Account?

Yes — but it depends on what you want to do.

BetterUnite supports connecting an existing Stripe account for importing transactions, but not for processing live payments. These are two different use cases with different requirements.

Using an existing Stripe account for importing transactions

You can connect an existing Stripe account to BetterUnite for Stripe Import.

This allows you to:

Import historical or external Stripe charges
Bring one-time or externally processed payments into BetterUnite
Create donation and contact records from existing Stripe activity
Avoid duplicate imports using Stripe charge IDs

When this is useful

You previously used Stripe outside of BetterUnite
You collect payments on another website or platform
You are migrating data into BetterUnite
You want reporting and donor history centralized in BetterUnite

To do this, you’ll provide your Stripe API keys on the Stripe Import setup page.

Stripe Import is read-only. It pulls transaction data into BetterUnite but does not process payments.

Using Stripe to process payments in BetterUnite

To process live payments (donations, memberships, subscriptions, recurring billing), you must create a new Stripe Express account through BetterUnite.

Why a new Stripe Express account is required

The core reason: Stripe Express is designed for platforms

Stripe Express was built specifically for platforms that process payments on behalf of other organizations or users.

If a product needs to:

Handle payments inside its own UI
Manage subscriptions centrally
Control billing logic, retries, and lifecycle
Provide a consistent experience across customers

then Stripe Express is the correct model, this is why it's used by BetterUnite.

Because of this architecture, existing Stripe Standard or Custom accounts cannot be reused for payment processinginside BetterUnite.

Key distinction at a glance

Use case	Can I use an existing Stripe account?
Import past or external Stripe transactions	✅ Yes
Process live donations or memberships	❌ No
Manage recurring subscriptions	❌ No
Store cards and auto-bill supporters	❌ No

How to start processing payments in BetterUnite

To process payments:

Go to Settings → Payment Processors
Add a new Stripe Express processor
Complete the guided Stripe Express setup (takes only a few minutes)
Start accepting payments immediately in BetterUnite

Your Stripe Express account will be securely linked to your BetterUnite organization.

Can I use both?

Yes — many organizations do.

A common setup is:

Existing Stripe account → used with Stripe Import for historical or external transactions
Stripe Express account → used by BetterUnite for all new and recurring payments

This gives you the best of both worlds without disrupting existing data.

Important clarification

Connecting an existing Stripe account does not enable payment processing in BetterUnite.

If your goal is to accept donations, memberships, or subscriptions through BetterUnite, you must set up a Stripe Express payment processor, even if you already have a Stripe account elsewhere.